Etikett: Theconversation.com

Math education outcomes in the United States have been unequal for decades. Learners in the top 10% socioeconomically tend to be about four grade levels ahead of learners in the bottom 10% – a statistic that has remained stubbornly persistent for 50 years.

To advance equity, policymakers and educators often focus on boosting test scores and grades and making advanced courses more widely available. Through this lens, equity means all students earn similar grades and progress to similar levels of math.

With more than three decades of experience as a researcher, math teacher and teacher educator, I advocate for expanding what equity means in mathematics education. I believe policymakers and educators should focus less on test scores and grades and more on developing students’ confidence and ability to use math to make smart personal and professional decisions. This is mathematical power – and true equity.

What is ‘equity’ in math?

To understand the limitations of thinking about equity solely in terms of academic achievements, consider a student whom I interviewed during her freshman year of college.

Jasmine took Algebra 1 in ninth grade, followed by a summer online geometry course. This put her on a pathway to study calculus during her senior year in an AP class in which she earned an A. She graduated high school in the top 20% of her class and went to a highly selective liberal arts college. Now in her first year, she plans to study psychology.

Did Jasmine receive an equitable mathematics education? From an equity-as-achievement perspective, yes. But let’s take a closer look.

Jasmine experienced anxiety in her math classes during her junior and senior years in high school. Despite strong grades, she found herself “in a little bit of a panic” when faced with situations that require mathematical analysis. This included deciding the best loan options.

In college, Jasmine’s major required statistics. Her counselor and family encouraged her to take calculus over statistics in high school because calculus “looked better” for college applications. She wishes now she had studied statistics as a foundation for her major and for its usefulness outside of school. In her psychology classes, knowledge of statistics helps her better understand the landscape of disorders and to ask questions like, “How does gender impact this disorder?”

These outcomes suggest Jasmine did not receive an equitable mathematics education, because she did not develop mathematical power. Mathematical power is the know-how and confidence to use math to inform decisions and navigate the demands of daily life – whether personal, professional or civic. An equitable education would help her develop the confidence to use mathematics to make decisions in her personal life and realize her professional goals. Jasmine deserved more from her mathematics education.

The prevalence of inequitable math education

Experiences like Jasmine’s are unfortunately common. According to one large-scale study, only 37% of U.S. adults have mathematical skills that are useful for making routine financial and medical decisions.

A National Council on Education and the Economy report found that coursework for nine common majors, including nursing, required relatively few of the mainstream math topics taught in most high schools. A recent study found that teachers and parents perceive math education as “unengaging, outdated and disconnected from the real world.”

Many students suffer from math anxiety.
Steven Errico/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Looking at student experiences, national survey results show that large proportions of students experience anxiety about math class, low levels of confidence in math, or both. Students from historically marginalized groups experience this anxiety at higher rates than their peers. This can frustrate their postsecondary pursuits and negatively affect their lives.

How to make math education more equitable

In 2023, I collaborated with other educators from Connecticut’s professional math education associations to author an equity position statement. The position statement, which was endorsed by the Connecticut State Board of Education, outlines three commitments to transform mathematics education.

1. Foster positive math identities: The first commitment is to foster positive math identities, which includes students’ confidence levels and their beliefs about math and their ability to learn it. Many students have a very negative relationship with mathematics. This commitment is particularly important for students of color and language learners to counteract the impact of stereotypes about who can be successful in mathematics.

A growing body of material exists to help teachers and schools promote positive math identities. For example, writing a math autobiography can help students see the role of math in their lives. They can also reflect on their identity as a “math person.” Teachers should also acknowledge students’ strengths and encourage them to share their own ideas as a way to empower them.

2. Modernize math content: The second commitment is to modernize the mathematical content that school districts offer to students. For example, a high school mathematics pathway for students interested in health care professions might include algebra, math for medical professionals and advanced statistics. With these skills, students will be better prepared to calculate drug dosages, communicate results and risk factors to patients, interpret reports and research, and catch potentially life-threatening errors.

3. Align state policies and requirements: The third commitment is to align state policies and school districts in their definition of mathematical proficiency and the requirements for achieving it. In 2018, for instance, eight states had a high school math graduation requirement insufficient for admission to the public universities in the same state. Other states’ requirements exceed the admission requirements. Aligning state and district definitions of math proficiency clears up confusion for students and eliminates unnecessary barriers.

What’s next?

As long as educators and policymakers focus solely on equalizing test scores and enrollment in advanced courses, I believe true equity will remain elusive. Mathematical power – the ability and confidence to use math to make smart personal and professional decisions – needs to be the goal.

No one adjustment to the U.S. math education system will immediately result in students gaining mathematical power. But by focusing on students’ identities and designing math courses that align with their career and life goals, I believe schools, universities and state leaders can create a more expansive and equitable math education system. Läs mer…

Vaccinations have provided significant protection for the public against infectious diseases. However, there was a modest decrease in support in 2023 nationwide for vaccine requirements for children to attend public schools.

In addition, the presidential candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading critic of childhood vaccination, has given him a prominent platform in which to amplify his views. This includes an extensive interview on the “Joe Rogan Experience,” a podcast with over 14 million subscribers. Notably, former President Donald Trump has said he is opposed to mandatory school COVID-19 vaccinations, and in a phone call Trump apparently wasn’t aware was being recorded, he appeared to endorse Kennedy’s views toward vaccines.

I am a biochemist and molecular biologist studying the roles microbes play in health and disease. I also teach medical students and am interested in how the public understands science.

Here are some facts about vaccines that skeptics like Kennedy get wrong:

Vaccines are effective and safe

Public health data from 1974 to the present conclude that vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives worldwide over the past 50 years. Vaccines are also constantly monitored for safety in the U.S.

Nevertheless, the false claim that vaccines cause autism persists despite study after study of large populations throughout the world showing no causal link between them.

Claims about the dangers of vaccines often come from misrepresenting scientific research papers. Kennedy cites a 2005 report allegedly showing massive brain inflammation in monkeys in response to vaccination, when in fact the authors of that study state that there were no serious medical complications. A separate 2003 study that Kennedy claimed showed a 1,135% increase in autism in vaccinated versus unvaccinated children actually found no consistent significant association between vaccines and neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Kennedy also claims that a 2002 vaccine study included a control group of children 6 months of age and younger who were fed mercury-contaminated tuna sandwiches. This claim is false.

Vaccines are continuously monitored for safety before and long after they’re available to the general public.
Elena Zaretskaya/Moment via Getty Images

Aluminum adjuvants help boost immunity

Kennedy is co-counsel with a law firm that is suing the pharmaceutical company Merck based in part on the unfounded assertion that the aluminum in one of its vaccines causes neurological disease. Aluminum is added to many vaccines as an adjuvant to strengthen the body’s immune response to the vaccine, thereby enhancing the body’s defense against the targeted microbe.

The law firm’s claim is based on a 2020 report showing that brain tissue from some patients with Alzheimer’s disease, autism and multiple sclerosis have elevated levels of aluminum. The authors of that study do not assert that vaccines are the source of the aluminum, and vaccines are unlikely to be the culprit.

Notably, the brain samples analyzed in that study were from 47- to 105-year-old patients. Most people are exposed to aluminum primarily through their diets, and aluminum is eliminated from the body within days. Therefore, aluminum exposure from childhood vaccines is not expected to persist in those patients.

Vaccines undergo the same approval process as other drugs

Clinical trials for vaccines and other drugs are blinded, randomized and placebo-controlled studies. For a vaccine trial, this means that participants are randomly divided into one group that receives the vaccine and a second group that receives a placebo saline solution. The researchers carrying out the study, and sometimes the participants, do not know who has received the vaccine or the placebo until the study has finished. This eliminates bias.

Results are published in the public domain. For example, vaccine trial data for COVID-19, human papilloma virus and rotavirus is available for anyone to access.

Vaccine manufacturers are liable for injury or death

Kennedy’s lawsuit against Merck contradicts his insistence that vaccine manufacturers are fully immune from litigation.

His claim is based on an incorrect interpretation of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, or VICP. VICP is a no-fault federal program created to reduce frivolous lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers, which threaten to cause vaccine shortages and a resurgence of vaccine-preventable disease.

A person claiming injury from a vaccine can petition the U.S. Court of Federal Claims through the VICP for monetary compensation. If the VICP petition is denied, the claimant can then sue the vaccine manufacturer.

Drug manufacturers are liable for any vaccine-related death or injury.
Andreas Ren Photography Germany/Image Source via Getty Images

The majority of cases resolved under the VICP end in a negotiated settlement between parties without establishing that a vaccine was the cause of the claimed injury. Kennedy and his law firm have incorrectly used the payouts under the VICP to assert that vaccines are unsafe.

The VICP gets the vaccine manufacturer off the hook only if it has complied with all requirements of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and exercised due care. It does not protect the vaccine maker from claims of fraud or withholding information regarding the safety or efficacy of the vaccine during its development or after approval.

Good nutrition and sanitation are not substitutes for vaccination

Kennedy asserts that populations with adequate nutrition do not need vaccines to avoid infectious diseases. While it is clear that improvements in nutrition, sanitation, water treatment, food safety and public health measures have played important roles in reducing deaths and severe complications from infectious diseases, these factors do not eliminate the need for vaccines.

After World War II, the U.S. was a wealthy nation with substantial health-related infrastructure. Yet, Americans reported an average of 1 million cases per year of now-preventable infectious diseases.

Vaccines introduced or expanded in the 1950s and 1960s against diseases like diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, polio, mumps, rubella and Haemophilus influenza type B have resulted in the near or complete eradication of those diseases.

It’s easy to forget why many infectious diseases are rarely encountered today. The success of vaccines does not always tell its own story. It must be retold again and again to counter misinformation. Läs mer…

Autistic people often experience difficulties with social communication. It’s so common, in fact, that it’s one of the central criteria for an autism diagnosis.

For as long as we have been diagnosing autism, doctors and researchers have regarded social communication difficulties as autistic “impairments”. But in more recent years, research has begun to show that – just like autistic people have been saying for a long time – communication breakdowns go both ways.

In other words, neurotypical people can have just as much difficulty understanding autistic people as the other way round. This is now sometimes referred to as “the double empathy problem”.

In my new book, Understanding Others in a Neurodiverse World, I draw on linguistics, the study of language, to look at the double empathy problem a little more closely. And I consider how autistic and non-autistic people can better communicate with each other.

In the world of linguistics there is an idea called “relevance theory”, which tries to make sense of how it is that any of us understand what another person means.

For example, if you hear me say “it’s getting a bit chilly”, depending on the context, there are a number of things I might mean by this. I might mean: “I’m cold”. But I could just as easily mean: “could I borrow a jumper please?” or: “is it okay if I shut the window?”. Or even: “it’s probably time to head home soon,” and any other number of things.

Words, in essence, don’t mean much. To work out the right interpretation of my words, you need to be able to correctly gauge what I wanted you to understand, or my “intended meaning”. We do this all the time with each other.

Yet historically, early autism researchers assumed that misunderstandings between autistic and non-autistic people were due to autistic people not being very good at recognising intentions. We now know that these misunderstanding run both ways and relevance theory can help us understand why.

Because there are often so many potentially different ways we can interpret somebody’s words, our brains rely on shortcuts to help us identify the most relevant interpretation. This is calculated by weighing up how much effort you need to put in when working out someone’s intended meaning. The more similar we are to another person, the more likely it is that we think the same way, meaning less effort is required to find a relevant interpretation.

Herein lies the problem. Autistic and non-autistic people experience the world and think very differently. So, what is relevant to an autistic person may not be relevant to a non-autistic person. And vice versa.

One of the most useful things neurotypical people can do when engaging with autistic people is to not make assumptions about there being common ground.
H. Mark Weidman Photography/Alamy

It’s important to recognise this because difficulties with social communication can affect all areas of an autistic person’s life.

For example, communication difficulties between autistic people and their healthcare providers contribute to the significantly poorer physical and mental health outcomes that autistic people experience. This includes a life expectancy that is significantly reduced compared to neurotypical people and a higher prevalence of serious medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension than remain untreated for longer.

Read more:
Autistic people experience loneliness far more acutely than neurotypical people – new research

Difficulties with social communication can lead to far higher rates of loneliness and social isolation among autistic people. Social communication challenges also contribute to the barriers that autistic people experience in education, employment and in accessing secure housing.

How can we improve things?

One of the most useful things that neurotypical people can do when engaging with autistic people is to not make assumptions about there being common ground.

One useful example of this is when we talk with people from another culture or language background. In such circumstances, we often make extra mental efforts to consider the different ways they may be thinking. This is something that can really help to improve communication between autistic and non-autistic people.

Consider when you watch a TV show in a foreign language that you are somewhat familiar with. You try to tune your ear in to identify the intended message without worrying too much about every word or the exact grammar.

This works well when people use English as a lingua franca (Elf) in international and intercultural business settings. When two or more people from different language and socioeconomic backgrounds use English to communicate, they often start from varying points of reference and individual ways of thinking.

Different things will be more or less relevant to each of them. But Elf users make extra efforts to work out what their interlocutor is saying and develop new language norms together in the moment.

The American autistic rights activist Jim Sinclair gave a seminal speech at the 1993 International Conference on Autism in Toronto, Canada. In “Don’t Mourn For Us”, they offered an insight on communication still relevant today:

“It takes more work to communicate with someone whose native language isn’t the same as yours. And autism goes deeper than language and culture; autistic people are ”foreigners” in any society. You’re going to have to give up your assumptions about shared meanings. You’re going to have to learn to back up to levels more basic than you’ve probably thought about before, to translate, and to check to make sure your translations are understood…”

Embracing this mindset could help to bridge the communication gap between autistic and non-autistic people, promoting better understanding, empathy and connection. Läs mer…

The Russian Orthodox Church has approved a statement describing Russia’s “special military operation” as a holy war, arguing that all of Ukraine should be Russia’s exclusive zone of influence. Said Ismagilov, one of Ukraine’s top muslim leaders, joined the armed forces to fight against Russia’s mass invasion, claiming a Quranic justification for his decision. Moscow’s chief rabbi, Pinchas Goldschmidt, fled Russia after refusing the invitation of state officials to make a public statement in support of the war.

These are just a few examples of the ways that religious leaders are responding to the war in Ukraine. Throughout history it has been common for nations at war to claim that God is on their side. The extent and scale of active participation by some religious leaders in this conflict, however, is exceptional.

Political leaders in both Russia and Ukraine have looked to their religious communities for support. In some cases, religious leaders have offered explicit support and even donned uniforms to serve in the armed forces, providing important sources of legitimacy for their countries’ position on the war. In other cases, religious leaders have fled under the pressure to take sides.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has enjoyed the highest public profile of any of the leaders of the major faiths in Russia or Ukraine during the war. Rumoured to have long-standing ties to the Russian security services, Kirill has been an important bastion of support for Russian president Vladimir Putin’s campaign to defend “traditional family values”. Putin has argued that Russian traditional values will be diluted or even replaced by the more “decadent” attitudes prevalent in the west, such as tolerance for LGBTQ+ rights, including gay marriage.

In addition to leading a church that blesses Russia’s soldiers and weapons on their way to war, Kirill also performs a vital service to the Kremlin by echoing Putin’s efforts to use key moments in history to justify the invasion of Ukraine. These include citing the adoption of Christianity by Prince Volodymyr of Kyiv in 988 as the moment when Russia was founded, and the source of Moscow’s claim to Ukraine.

Kirill is also engaged in a struggle to reassert control over a network of Orthodox churches that stretches over the former Soviet Union and beyond – holding sway over Orthodox diaspora communities around the world. Church law places them all under the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate. This position is actively resisted in several countries, including Ukraine, where the Orthodox church broke away from Russian control after the annexation of Crimea.

Orthodox believers pray near the debris of their chapel in downtown Kyiv. Ukrainian authorities dismantled the chapel, which was aligned with the Russian Orthodox church.
SERGEY DOLZHENKO /EPA

Concern about religion being used for political purposes has become apparent since the start of the Russian invasion. Fearing a fifth column of Russian sympathisers, the Ukrainian government has taken steps to seize control of churches that have continued to adhere to Moscow in religious matters. Meanwhile, in territories occupied by Russian forces, Ukrainian Orthodox churches have been destroyed and congregations and their priests subjected to reprisals.

Other faith leaders

But while Orthodoxy is the dominant religion in both Russia and Ukraine, the religious leaders of other faith communities have also taken clear positions on the war. Ukraine’s Chief Rabbi, Moshe Reuven Azman, combines his humanitarian work for Jews who have been displaced by the war with public statements refuting Russia’s claims that Ukraine is governed by Nazis. For Azman, opposing the war means not only looking after the material needs of fellow Jews but also resisting Moscow’s efforts to use the memory of the second world war and the Holocaust for its own purposes.

Although Muslims are believed to make up only about 4% of the just under 40 million population, they and their leaders actively support Ukraine’s war effort. For many, fighting against Russia’s invasion is not only a matter of Ukrainian patriotism but also a way of seeking justice for the harsh treatment that they and their ancestors have suffered at the hands of Moscow.

Most Ukrainian Muslims are Crimean Tatars, who were forcibly deported by Stalin in retaliation for imagined disloyalty during the second world war. Although some eventually managed to return to Crimea, in 2014 many Tatars fled Russian control of the peninsula, while those that have remained face intimidation, arrest and casual brutality. Moscow actively encourages Russians to settle in Crimea. Between 2014 and 2018, according to official Russian figures, some 247,000 Russians had moved to Crimea. This is part of Putin’s policy to lend legitimacy to the claim that Crimea is authentically a Russian territory and to create a politically loyal population there.

But while Ismagilov, mufti of the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine, serves as a medic in the Ukrainian military wearing combat fatigues, Russia’s chief mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin has called upon Muslims to take Russia’s side in the war, describing it as a holy jihad.

To complicate matters further, there are Muslims who are Chechen nationals fighting on both side of this war. Soldiers loyal to Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov fight for Russia. Opposing them are Chechens who fight in separate units affiliated with the Ukrainian armed forces. These men hope to help deliver a serious blow to Russia and gain valuable skills and experience for a future armed effort to achieve independence.

The motives of religious leaders and their communities reflects this conflict’s complexity. For Patriarch Kirill the war is an opportunity to consolidate sacred and secular power. The chief rabbis of both Ukraine and Russia clearly see it as a test of character and a matter of principle. For Crimean Tatars and the Chechens fighting for Ukraine, it is a chance to regain a lost homeland. Like so many other aspects of this war, the convergence of religion and politics defy simple explanations. Läs mer…

This article was first published in our email newsletter Something Good, which every fortnight brings you a summary of the best things to watch, visit and read, as recommended and analysed by academic experts. Click here to receive the newsletter direct to your inbox.

So often, in crime dramas, the victim is silent. Instead, the show focuses on the killer, piecing together the puzzle of why and how they did what they did. Not so in the new Apple TV drama, Lady in the Lake, which is narrated by Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram) – the dead woman herself. Johnson is directly addressing Maddie Morgenstern (Natalie Portman), the writer and amateur investigator looking into her death.

Set in the 1960s, it’s a drama about female agency, the ties of family and community and the glittering temptations of Baltimore’s underbelly. The mood of the time – anxious and fractured – is conjured through an evocative jazz and soul soundtrack. And civil rights tensions course through the show. Morgenstern is a bored, wealthy Jewish housewife. Johnson is an African American mother with several jobs and a work-shy husband. The women’s unequal powers and privileges shape the drama, and their perceptions of one another.

For our reviewer, television expert Helen Piper, it’s a must watch, with “impressive scale” to the recreation of Baltimore and “visually ingenious and keenly paced” storytelling. Unlike most streaming series, episodes are being released weekly, giving you time to tick over the twists and turns as you count down to the next instalment.

Read more:
Lady in the Lake: a stunning show that uses murder and mystery to explore the parallel lives of two women in 1960s Baltimore

Troublemakers and torchbearers

But if it’s binge-ability you’re after, The Decameron should scratch that itch. All eight episodes are ready to watch on Netflix, and if you view them in one sitting, you’re in for a hell of a ride. Adapted from the novel by Giovanni Boccaccio, written in 1353, it follows ten nobles quarantining together in a villa in the Italian countryside. They have fled Florence where the deadly Black Death is raging.

The bratty cast of Netflix’s The Decameron.
Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix

Netflix has turned the book into a dark, soapy comedy – a “wine-soaked sex romp” that soon descends into a race for survival. I spent the COVID lockdowns playing a lot of Scrabble and catching up on my reading. The wealthy inhabitants of the Decameron villa, however, spend their pandemic accusing one another of witchcraft, and rolling around in satin sheets.

Read more:
The Decameron: Netflix’s raunchy, raucous re-imagining of a medieval plague masterpiece

August 2 marks the centenary of American novelist and social critic James Baldwin’s birth, so it’s fitting that a quote from one of his essays has inspired the title of a new exhibition at London’s Hayward Gallery – There Is Light Somewhere. The exhibition, by conceptual artist Tavares Strachan, features collage, paintings, sculptures, light displays and even an encyclopaedia, exploring the way biases and silences shape our collective stories about the past.

For our reviewer, professor of social injustice Pragya Agarwal, visiting the exhibition was an emotional experience. It left her feeling like she had “donned armour against the insidious racial biases that can chip away at our fragile sense of belonging”.

Read more:
There is Light Somewhere at the Hayward Gallery: an emotional exploration of history and belonging

Installation view of Tavares Strachan’s There Is Light Somewhere.
Mark Blower/Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery

A sense of belonging will also surely be a central theme at tonight’s Olympic opening ceremony, as Paris gears up to host the games for the third time. I always love watching the opening ceremonies, and vividly remember running home from a last-minute snack-run to catch the start of London 2012. And what a spectacle it was.

These flashy events aim to tell fresh stories about the host city and country and set new creative standards for live mega-events. However, as historian Catherine Barker explains in this history of the opening ceremony, it took decades for the events to reach this scale. At the first modern Olympics in 1896, athletes simply entered the stadium to hear speeches and a specially composed hymn.

Read more:
The colourful history of the Olympic opening ceremony

I moved into a new home at the end of last year and have been eyeing two rather unwieldy trees in the garden with suspicion ever since. But my impulse to lop them into submission was quickly curtailed in the spring when they began to grow apples – hundreds of them. Now I’m counting down the days until I can harvest them for crumbles, pies and salads. And as this piece by historian Serin Quinn has taught me, I’m lucky to have apple trees of this age and size at all.

In the late 19th century, there were nearly 1,500 varieties of apple growing in England. Today, you will find just seven to choose between on our supermarket shelves. Quinn is reviewing The Apple by Sally Coulthard, a delicious history of the fruit that will leave you with “plenty of food for thought”.

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A delicious history of the apple – from the Tian Sian mountains to supermarket shelves

Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here. Läs mer…

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has declared violence against women a national emergency in England and Wales. The first national police analysis of the scale of the problem estimated 2 million women to be victims of offences including stalking, harassment, sexual assault and domestic abuse.

But statistics can’t fully capture the magnitude of this violence. Many women and girls do not report sexual violence, in part because they do not have trust or confidence in the police. A recent report by the police inspectorate found that police are “struggling to get the basics right” when it comes to violence against women.

For those of us who research violence against women and girls and support survivors, the “national emergency” declaration is a long overdue acknowledgement – it has been an emergency for some time. Data collected by the Femicide Census shows that on average, a man has killed a woman nearly every three days in the UK since 2010.

Last year, police chiefs placed offences against women and girls on the same level as terrorism and serious organised crime. The decision to now declare it a national emergency is perhaps an acknowledgement that the situation has not improved.

But still missing from the conversation is what’s behind the emergency: the misogyny and male violence that underpins these stark figures.

This violence is not just passively happening to women and girls. They are being subjected to violence predominantly at the hands of men. The majority (77%) of domestic homicide victims (killed by a current or former partner or a family member) from 2017-2019 were female, and 96% of the suspects in those homicides were male.

The national emergency is really men’s violence against women. Leaving out that important detail leads to interventions that only involve women changing their behaviour – for example, changing their route home or being advised to stop using social media. It is victim-blaming on a national scale. As Jackson Katz, scholar and activist on issues of gender, race and violence argues, violence against women is a men’s issue.

Men are also overwhelmingly the perpetrators of violence against other men. There are deep questions that must be answered to do with men, masculinity and violence.

Read more:
Why women would prefer to be alone in the woods with a bear than a man

Online misogyny

Part of this picture is also the spread of misogynistic messages and radicalising content online that is affecting young men. Top police officers pointed specifically to misogynistic influencers like Andrew Tate as part of their approach to violence against women.

A 2023 Women’s Aid report found a clear link between exposure to misogynistic views on social media, and having harmful perceptions of relationships. Schools have reported male students directing sexist phrases to female teachers and classmates such as “make me a sandwich”, and demonstrating controlling behaviours in relationships. This mirrors the language and actions of influencers who have become famous by capitalising on and promoting misogyny and sexism.

Their content involves demeaning and objectifying women, often portraying them as inferior or subordinate to men and advocating for gender stereotypes and traditional gender roles. When women are viewed as less than men, some men think it gives them licence to harm them. This harm often takes the form of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Coercive and controlling behaviour is actively encouraged by misogynistic influencers, who emphasise aggressive, domineering behaviour as ideal for men while belittling qualities like empathy and compassion.

Allegations of coercive and controlling behaviour by Tate have not diminished his appeal to millions of followers, who continue to be swayed by his “maverick” status.

The rise of misogynistic influencers has been linked to harmful views of relationships among young men.
Maridav/Shutterstock

Misogynistic and sexist ideas do not just take shape online. But technology exacerbates these ideas and allows them to reach new generations of young men and women. As researcher Azmina Dhrodia notes:

The widespread inequality and discrimination against women that remains embedded in society is increasingly replicated online. Acts of violence and abuse against women online are an extension of these acts offline.

Perpetrators of domestic abuse are also incorporating technology into how they monitor and control their victims. According to the latest national crime survey, 1.4 million women were victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales in the year ending 2023.

The accessibility of deepfake pornography is also disproportionately harming women, with boys and men creating and sharing images of their female friends, colleagues, classmates, partners and ex-partners. Sexual fantasy may influence their creation, but this is also about power and control, and humiliating women.

Men’s sexual entitlement over women’s bodies is also evident in the online chat rooms where such sexualised deepfakes and tips for their creation are shared.

To effectively treat violence against women like the national emergency it is, we need legal, social, educational and technological solutions to eradicate systemic misogyny. The normalisation of harmful ideas perpetuating gender inequality – both on and offline – must be tackled. Läs mer…

Political podcasts have exploded in popularity in the UK. Publishers like Acast and Spotify have reported downloads of political titles rising 50% or more over the 2024 general election.

As a researcher of broadcast journalism and a podcast producer, I find this exciting but not surprising. Before these figures were even published, I predicted this would become the UK’s first “podcast election”.

I believe the accessibility of podcasts – the fact they can be listened to at any time, and the freedom for podcasters to express opinion without regulation – is a big factor for this rise. But political podcasts’ popularity now raises questions about whether this content should have more oversight.

In a recent interview, Adam Fleming, co-founder of podcast giant Goalhanger, revealed that its biggest titles, The Rest is Politics and The Rest is History, were downloaded around 10 million and 12 million times a month, respectively.

The medium has come a long way since 2006, when comedian Ricky Gervais’s show was the most downloaded podcast ever with an average of 261,670 downloads per episode. Podcasting was still in an experimental stage, and few people had heard the term.

But even then, Gervais acknowledged the unique freedoms of the format, telling the BBC: “We didn’t have a boss. We didn’t have rules or restrictions that you do on radio.”

For fans of audio storytelling, podcasts introduced a new way of listening to content whenever and wherever they wanted. For their part, hosts appreciated the freedom to say and do what they wanted without the restrictions of the rules and regulations of broadcast radio.

Freedom without constraints was one of the appeals of the much-loved “pirate radio” of the 1960s. These unlicensed radio stations on boats floating off the coast of the UK had few regulations. DJs such as Tony Blackburn, Kenny Everett, John Peel and Emperor Rosko could say what they wanted and play what they liked. They offered something different from what was on offer elsewhere, and this helped build them a loyal audience of followers who liked their rebellious nature and new sound.

A similar appeal has helped podcasting grow year on year. There are now more than 500 million podcast listeners around the world. In the UK, around 38 million people (69% of the adult population) have listened to a podcast, with around 23 million (42%) saying they have listened to a podcast in the last month, according to the latest figures.

But with such popularity, should there be tighter controls on what is being broadcast?

For an argument in favour, consider the recent election coverage. Broadcasters are governed by Ofcom’s broadcast code, so on election day, TV and radio stations are not allowed to air anything political that could influence voters.

Yet, on election day this year, podcasters were free to produce whatever content they wanted. When you consider that the most popular political podcasts, such as The Rest is Politics and The News Agents, regularly hit 2 million downloads per episode, this could become problematic for an unregulated medium. You just have to look at the fake news pushed out on social media and the impact that often has, such as during the January 6 US Capitol riots, to see the damage unregulated publishing can create.

The freedom to create

Some believe that recent regulatory changes in Canada will lead to podcasts being regulated. Last year, the Canadian government introduced legislation giving the country’s broadcast regulator broad powers over digital media companies. This means companies such as Spotify and YouTube have to register as a platform. From November last year, all podcasting services operating in the country that make more than CA$10 million (£5.7 million) had to register with authorities.

There are some advantages to this, one being discoverability. Under the rules, those companies now must promote Canadian content, including indigenous content. This will hopefully result in more local material being heard by a wider audience. But critics suspect this is just the start of regulations for podcasters, and fear that further regulation could interfere with freedom of expression.

In the UK, the new Online Safety Act was passed last year, aiming to make social media firms more responsible for users’ safety on their platforms, including protecting children from illegal and harmful content. Some critics argue it could allow regulators and tech firms to dictate what may or may not be said online, raising issues for freedom of expression, privacy and innovation.

The act could ultimately lead to tighter rules determining what content podcasters can publish: a regulator through the back door, taking away one of the key elements that makes a podcast different from the traditional broadcasters.

Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart’s The Rest is Politics is the UK’s top podcast.
Niall Carson/Alamy

Governments and regulators should tread very carefully down this path. The creative freedom without the rules and restrictions is exactly what has allowed this medium to thrive.

There are no gatekeepers such as broadcast bosses or editors who may have their own opinions on what “the audience” wants to hear. There are no regulations set by governing bodies because they believe they know what’s best for “the audience”. A podcast allows the creator to create, with listeners deciding whether to tune in or not.

Podcasting also opens doors for people who may have them closed by traditional media. This is summed up by the hosts of award-winning podcast Brown Girls Do It Too. A 2023 article marking 20 years of podcasts concluded that, without podcasts, there is no way hosts Poppy Jay and Rubina Pabani “would have found themselves professionally engaged in the business of making people laugh”.

In an industry where, according to a recent Ofcom report, diversity is still lacking, podcasts are a welcome hub of diversity and accessibility. This is just one reason why I would keep regulators well away from podcasts, and allow the podcasters to freely create – then watch the sector continue to grow. Läs mer…

Keir Starmer’s government has hit the ground running. But over the next few weeks and months some serious choices will have to be made about exactly how to govern. These are 13 pressing questions that will demand answers soon, partly drawing from my experience working in city government, several national governments (including the UK, where I ran the strategy unit and was head of policy in No.10 under Tony Blair) and the European Commission.

1. How can Whitehall perform more effectively?

The new prime minister and cabinet secretary will need to drive up performance in Whitehall departments. That might require reviving capability reviews and importing the role of public service commissioners from Australia to keep the civil service on its toes.

There’ll also be a need to rebuild the training system which has largely collapsed, perhaps with a new college of government, not just for officials but also for ministers.

2. Who will be the fixers?

Tony Blair built up a strong No 10 and Cabinet Office, with strategy and delivery units and more (I ran the performance and innovation unit before the strategy unit). Starmer now has huge power and patronage but needs vehicles to project that power. He will need central teams able to anticipate and fix problems, to drive strategy and handle difficult events. His predecessors lacked these capacities, and it showed.

3. Do ministries need reorganising?

Next, Starmer has to decide on reshaping ministries. Whitehall usually exaggerates how much this kind of structural change achieves and, for now, Starmer has decided to leave the departments intact. But in time he will need to fit the forms to the functions.

That said, the one restructuring which many policy experts advocate – separating the Treasury’s public spending and economic policy roles (as almost every other country does) – isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

4. What’s the strategy for talent?

The government will need a strategy for talent. It’s already brought in talented outsiders as ministers and will need to bring in many more to refresh Whitehall. Getting the right people into the right jobs is key to achieving results – and not running out of steam.

5. How do you turn missions into action?

Starmer spoke a lot about “missions” during his election campaign and we can expect an aerosol of “mission” titles in boards and committees. But some subtlety will be needed. Missions in health are very different from ones in economics, crime or the environment.

A mission delivery unit has been proposed to ensure departments are delivering, but this may also have to be re-thought. Combining short-term performance management with long-term strategy in this way tends not to work for long, since they require very different methods and mindsets.

6. How will Great British Energy actually work?

Labour has committed to a series of new public institutions (Great British Energy, a national care service, a national wealth fund and Skills England) but has so far offered little detail.

The national wealth fund has turned out to be little more than a label, but GBE will be set up fast and government will have to decide whether to use any of the methods that have transformed business or the best governments globally over the last decades. The huge impact of data, algorithms and platforms on so much of contemporary life isn’t yet reflected in the plans for new institutions.

7. What styles of government will be used?

Will Starmer’s government use the new, often quite draconian, powers governments have taken over the last decade in its operations (such as so-called Henry VIII clauses)? Should there instead be distinctive approaches, for example by cutting the cognitive load for citizens? Much recent policy has done the opposite, with ever more baroque tax and welfare rules, for example.

8. How can we modernise public finance?

A critical issue will be to modernise public finance methods – how budgets are set and implemented. The immediate concern will be to keep a grip on the public finances and boost private investment. But in the medium term the government needs to update Whitehall’s methods, which are out of date and ill suited to its priorities, whether in relation to longer-term investment in people (investment methods are used for buildings but not for education, health or R&D) or use of data to learn about the impacts spending achieves.

For a cash-strapped government, creative approaches to efficiency will also be vital. A new “office for value for money” has been promised, but nothing has been said about how it will work.

9. How do we get local government out of dire straits?

Stabilising finances for struggling local governments will be a first priority, with fundamental reform long overdue. But better answers will also be needed on how to organise collaboration with local authorities and devolved administrations, getting beyond Whitehall’s various competitive bidding systems which so badly failed on levelling up.

England’s mayors visit Downing Street.
Alamy/Zuma press

Periodic meetings of both national and local leaders have been offered in the first few days of the new government. But a shared bureaucracy is also needed. Coordinating efforts at a local level will be vital for many of the government’s priorities, from housing to care.

10. How can digital functions be updated?

Digital operations matter hugely to modern governments. The GOV.UK site is relatively useable, but the UK has arguably fallen well behind the world’s best. Starmer has decided to concentrate responsibility in one department, but elsewhere central teams have done best, for example in radically simplifying payments, authentication and services. Learning from front runners like Estonia and India would be helpful here.

Sorting out AI procurement could deliver big gains, but rhetoric is far more visible than results, and there’s a risk of repeating the tech “solutionism” that created past disasters like Horizon .

11. How can the public sector experiment?

Top-down policies will only go so far. Just as important will be ideas on how to organise experiments and innovation across the public sector, including mobilising local ingenuity and social entrepreneurs on issues like homelessness and mental health. This continues to be organised in arguably very fragmented, underfunded and ad-hoc ways compared to innovation in fields like pharma. But it could be vital to success in a second term.

12. How can the government make better use of its own data and evidence?

Starmer has committed to doing what works. But this will require fresh thinking on how to bring together data, statistics, analysis and evidence in more coherent ways so that government actually knows what is working. Shared intelligence could be a guiding principle for the new government.

13. How can business and charities be brought in?

The new government will soon need to work out how to partner with business. Before the election it was all about wooing and reassuring. Promises of sanity and stability are good starting points. But now more structured partnerships are needed, on issues like employee mental health, financial inclusion and decarbonisation.

There’ll be a parallel need to reframe the government’s compact with civil society, again with a two-way deal, focused on a few priorities such as acute hardship.

Starmer is right to emphasise that how things are delivered matters as much as what is decided. And he is right to warn against sticking plaster solutions – though some of the most urgent crises such as in Thames Water or local government may demand sticking plasters.

Before long he will need to start thinking about a more radical agenda for change, ahead of the next election. But for now, the priority is restoring sanity and competence. For that, he needs to recognise that the British state is not a Rolls Royce just waiting for a new driver to steer it in a new direction. Instead, it needs a thorough overhaul, and soon. Läs mer…

Seven years seems a lifetime in politics. In 2017, President Donald Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. It prompted Canada, China and the European Union to convene an urgent meeting to reaffirm political commitment to global climate action.

The successful meeting became an annual event which, this week, took place in Wuhan, China – just as the prospect of another Trump presidency looms large.

Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen represented Australia at the invitation-only meeting of climate ministers and senior officials from nearly 30 countries.

The group gathered to progress global climate negotiations in the lead-up to the next United Nations climate conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. Setting stronger emissions reduction targets should send clear signals for investment, which has been lagging in Australia – but not China.

China is making remarkable progress in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Analysts have observed record growth in solar and wind – reducing coal’s share in electricity generation – alongside a boom in manufacturing of low-carbon technologies, including batteries and electric vehicles.

All of this means China’s greenhouse gas emissions may have peaked, which would be great news for the planet. It also means Australia must get a move on if it wants to become a renewable energy superpower.

China’s quiet approach to climate diplomacy

China clearly wants to play more of a global leadership role in the energy transition, but also put pressure on its own industries and firms to take climate action. China’s decision to host this week’s meeting, and others, reflects this aspiration.

Earlier this month, China hosted a five-day meeting of “like-minded developing countries” in Shandong. Then there was a “BASIC” ministerial meeting on climate action with Brazil, India and South Africa last weekend.

The big meeting this week was formally known as the 8th Ministerial on Climate Action. It involved in-depth discussions on issues surrounding COP29 and COP30, strengthening international cooperation and promoting energy transition.

At the meeting, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell called for bolder climate action from all nations, especially the rich G20. Under the Paris Agreement, every nation must submit new national climate plans and targets by February next year. As Stiell says:

Done well, these plans are the key to stronger economic growth, more jobs and prosperity, much less pollution and better health.

The transition to a low-carbon economy requires structural changes that are both politically difficult and time-consuming. But China’s efforts to develop the technology for renewable energy revolution are starting to bear fruit, as I outline below.

Electricity

About 40% of China’s CO₂ emissions come from electricity generation, mainly coal, but the share of renewable energy is growing .

Wind capacity expanded from 61 gigawatts (GW) in 2012 to 441GW in 2023, while solar capacity rose from 3.4GW in 2013 to 610GW.

Coal-fired power plants are being built too, though at a much slower rate. Hydropower experienced several successive years of drought.

New storage technologies are being developed to manage the rapid expansion of solar and wind. These include water-pump storage, chemical storage, compressed-air storage, and virtual power plants. Long-distance transmission grids will enable better use of renewables.

China is also experimenting with climate policy including emissions trading and offsetting through carbon markets. A dual system that managed both energy consumption and intensity for nearly 30 years is being redesigned, because the government wants to target fossil fuel consumption instead.

The plan is to replace direct coal burning with electricity, coal with natural gas, and combustion engines with electric vehicles.

Transport

In 2023, global electric vehicle sales exceeded 13 million. China has the largest domestic electric vehicle market with more than 7 million units sold, representing a third of car sales.

In addition, China exported 1.2 million electric vehicles in 2023. This was 80% more than the previous year.

Electric vehicles are already cheaper than cars with internal combustion engines in China, because they have such a high market share. Local carmakers already offer nearly 50 different small, affordable electric models.

Steel

In April, China announced it was preparing to extend emissions trading to the steel industry. This sector is the country’s second largest CO₂ emitter, behind power.

Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution. The government allocates permits that allow release of a certain amount of CO₂ over a set period of time. These permits can be bought and sold, or traded.

China accounts for more than half of the world’s steel production. But the industry also supports the energy transition, because steel is used in renewables and electric vehicles manufacturing. Nearly 70% of the world’s key components of wind turbines and 80% of solar panel components are made in China.

The government is encouraging industry to work with universities and research institutes to reduce emissions. It will not be easy, and it will be costly.

China is the world’s largest hydrogen producer, but 80% comes from fossil fuels. Investment in green hydrogen research and development is increasing, with some firms determined to take the lead. If steel-making could be powered by green hydrogen, it would be a major breakthrough.

A glimpse of the future

Given the uncertainty surrounding the US election in November, China’s steady hand in climate diplomacy is welcome.

China is also showing Australia and other nations what’s possible if the energy transition is turned into an opportunity for innovation. The scale of the renewable energy rollout in China is staggering, but so too is the pace of technology development to support renewables – to efficiently store wind and solar power to supply electricity on demand.

As the International Energy Agency said in 2020, more than two-thirds of global greenhouse gas reduction will be supported by the technologies that are still in development. China wants to get there first and corner the market. And there’s every indication it will succeed. Läs mer…

The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum.

Joining us on the Podcast is one of those teals, Zoe Daniel, member for the Melbourne seat of Goldstein. Daniel, previously a veteran reporter and foreign correspondent for the ABC, discusses some current hot-button issues, including the government’s plan for extensive reform of electoral donations and spending, which has some of the independents worried.

Daniel supports change but warns of risk:

I think there’s a strong case for getting big money out of politics, […] But I think that the danger is that it ends up, either deliberately or as an unintended consequence, preventing new players from getting into politics.

We know that roughly a third of Australians are currently not voting for major parties, that the two parties – the Coles and Woollies, the duopoly of politics – may collude, to create an unlevel playing field to protect themselves and to prevent others from entering the frame.

The conduct in the CFMEU has been in the spotlight after an expose by Nine of corruption and standover tactics. Federal and state governments have reacted strongly but Daniel is concerned about their commitment:

I think where my lack of confidence is, is in whether their intent is there. I think there’s a question around wanting to be seen to do something and actually doing something.

Victorians were just shaking their heads at the news that came out about the CFMEU because there has been smoke around this issue for so long. And we look at big construction projects in Victoria and it’s very self-evident that the costs are inflated, and that the CFMEU has been pulling the strings there.

If they’re going to embark on this with now such a microscope on it, they have to make sure that they actually clean out that behaviour. […] They cannot let this go this time without completing the job.

Daniel’s electorate has one of the highest Jewish populations in the country. She says:

It’s been an incredibly challenging time for Jewish people, across the world, but also specifically in my electorate since October 7th. The vast majority of the Jewish people in Melbourne are either Holocaust survivors or direct descendants of Holocaust survivors. There is absolute intergenerational trauma.

The thing that I’ve been trying to do is to separate what’s happening in Israel and Gaza, which Australia as a country can have influence on through its international partners, but to separate that from what’s going on in our community.

So to pressure the government initially to get flights into Israel, to get people evacuated, to then fast track security grants for synagogues and schools, to then address the doxing of Jewish creatives, which the government has done, to appoint an anti-Semitism envoy which the government has done.

Finally, as a former ABC foreign correspondent in the United States, Daniel observes of of Kamala Harris’ prospects,

I think no matter who they put in at this late stage, it was going to be extremely difficult to beat Donald Trump from a kind of standing start.

I must say that my instinct has been, has always been, that she wouldn’t be able to beat Trump. But I note that there’s a lot of momentum behind her and sometimes circumstances pan out differently to the way that you might expect. So maybe she’s got a shot at it. Läs mer…